It´s a fraud. The instrument shown was originally sold a couple of months ago. It was located in South Africa (which seemed a bit fishy but the seller was legit, and very kind to deal with as well). This CS80 found a new home in the Netherlands.

If not only the pictures but also the description have been lifted from another auction, fraud seems to be a safe bet.

Stephen

"Like the light from distant stars, Stephen Parsick's music has existed for some time, but is only now reaching us on Earth." -- Chuck van Zyl / Star´s End

Not sure how long ago they started doing this (they didn't do it 10+ years ago when I first signed up for eBay), but eBay/PayPal holds funds for sales by new members until the buyer leaves positive feedback.

There should be little to no risk bidding on that listing. However, since the photos and description were lifted form another listing and the "seller" has other high-dollar items listed for sale is very suspicious.

The nonchalant brevity of the "original owner" description, along with the use of "keyboardinstrument" and "studioinstrument" are enough to not only alude suspicion, but that this is an amateur attempt at fraud, as well. I wonder if people actually go to jail for this kind of nitwit behavior.

"Lots of people are nostalgic for analogue. I suspect they're people who never had to work with it." - Brian Eno

But how does one acquire feedbacks if one never used ebay before? I've been thinking of selling my modular, but have no idea..is ebay simply off-limits since I have not 1273 positive feedbacks? How would I possibly be able to sell anything?

Bitexion wrote:But how does one acquire feedbacks if one never used ebay before? I've been thinking of selling my modular, but have no idea..is ebay simply off-limits since I have not 1273 positive feedbacks? How would I possibly be able to sell anything?

Do I have to "grind" feedback by buying cheap s**t for ages?

Pretty much. Since just about everything you can think of is for sale on eBay, next few times you need to buy personal electronics, books, CDs (f**k iTunes, I want to hold something in my hand) or whatever, buy them on eBay. Get your rating up to 5 or 10 - something showing that you've been around a little bit and have no intention of leaving any time soon.

None of my business, but REALLY, you've never bought anything on eBay in the past 15+ years it's been a forefront online marketplace?

If youre going to sell your modular on ebay without any seller feedback, sell the cheap modules first(to build up rep). Try and sell some more cheap stuff too. When u have no feedback, its a b***h to sell at a reasonable price.

Solderman wrote:The nonchalant brevity of the "original owner" description, along with the use of "keyboardinstrument" and "studioinstrument" are enough to not only alude suspicion, but that this is an amateur attempt at fraud, as well. I wonder if people actually go to jail for this kind of nitwit behavior.

In fact, these hideously Teutonic bits were lifted directly from the original auction (which was legit), even down to the same serial number (which was 1266).

Let´s wait and see how eBay will proceed (or not).

@Bitexion: It must be pretty naive to try and sell something like a CS80 as a first-time auction, if it were legit. This would automatically raise an eyebrow or two, especially if questions could not be answered satisfyingly.

Stephen

"Like the light from distant stars, Stephen Parsick's music has existed for some time, but is only now reaching us on Earth." -- Chuck van Zyl / Star´s End

I received a call from the seller and based on the background he gave, I believe this is a fraud. He represented that he has the instrument and it was given to him by the seller from the original instrument in lieu of money owed to him. He offered to seller it but knows nothing about it. Apparently others have contacted him as well regarding the providence of the instrument.

Bitexion wrote:But how does one acquire feedbacks if one never used ebay before? I've been thinking of selling my modular, but have no idea..is ebay simply off-limits since I have not 1273 positive feedbacks? How would I possibly be able to sell anything?

Do I have to "grind" feedback by buying cheap s**t for ages?

Pretty much. Since just about everything you can think of is for sale on eBay, next few times you need to buy personal electronics, books, CDs (f**k iTunes, I want to hold something in my hand) or whatever, buy them on eBay. Get your rating up to 5 or 10 - something showing that you've been around a little bit and have no intention of leaving any time soon.

None of my business, but REALLY, you've never bought anything on eBay in the past 15+ years it's been a forefront online marketplace?

That's good advice, but I started off in your position Bitexion and didn't bother with that. If you start with a high value item before you have any feedback, just put in your sales information/details that any potential buyer interested can contact you and speak to you by phone if they are uncomfortable. Granted, people can lie by phone too, but you can also get a read from them and illegitimate sellers are unlikely to bother calling a stickler back. I sent multiple cellphone pics to people before..